Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ecclesiastes 2:14
The wise man’s eyes [are] in his head; but the fool walketh in darkness: and I myself perceived also that one event happeneth to them all.
14. The wise man’s eyes are in his head ] The figurative language is so much of the nature of an universal parable that we need hardly look to any special source for it, but we are at least reminded of those that “walk on still in darkness,” who have eyes and yet “see not” in any true sense of seeing (Isa 6:10). In Pro 17:24 we have the opposite form of the same thought: “The eyes of a fool are in the ends of the earth.” Comp. also Joh 11:10; Joh 12:33.
and I myself perceived also ] Better, And yet I myself perceived. The thought of Ecc 2:13 which had given an apparent resting-place for the seeker, is traversed by another which sends him once more adrift. Wisdom is better than folly. True, but for how long? With an emphasized stress on his own personal reflections, he goes on, “Yes, I myself, learning it for myself, and not as a topic of the schools, saw that there is one event for the wise and for the fool.” In a few short years the difference in which the former exults will vanish, and both will be on the same level. So sang the Epicurean poet:
“Omnes una manet nox,
Et calcanda semel via lethi.”
“One dark black night awaits us all;
One path of death we all must tread.”
Hor. Od. i. 28. 15.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Ecc 2:14
The wise mans eyes are in his head; but the fool walketh in darkness.
The advantage of wisdom over folly
Wisdom possesses the same advantage over folly that sight does over blindness. The man of wisdom, having all his wits about him, in the full possession and the appropriate exercise of all his faculties, guides his affairs with discretion, looks before him, thinks maturely of what he is doing, and by his knowledge of men and things, is directed to the adoption of plans which promise to be profitable, and to the prudent and successful prosecution of them. He foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself. He aims at worthy ends, and employs suitable means for their accomplishment. But the fool–the ignorant, and inconsiderate, and improvident man–is continually in danger of stumbling, or of going astray, like a person overtaken by darkness, who knoweth not whither he goeth. He is ever prone to run blindly and heedlessly into absurd and injurious projects, or to destroy such as are in themselves good, by blundering in the execution of them. The fools eyes, it is elsewhere said, are in the ends of the earth, roaming vainly and idly abroad, without serving his present and needful purposes; gazing, as the organs of a vacant mind, on far-off objects, and allowing him to stumble over what is immediately in his way. Without foresight to anticipate probable evils, without even sagacity to avoid such as are present, the fool is in perpetual hazard of iniuring and ruining both himself and all who are so unfortunate as to stand connected with him, or to be exposed to his influence. (R. Wardlaw, D. D.)
The wisdom of the eye
I. To understand this proverb, notice, first, the contrasts which it suggests. One of these is expressed in the context; the other is to be readily and clearly inferred.
1. First, there is a contrast between persons. We have before us the believer in God and the unbeliever, the child of light and the child of darkness, the converted and the unconverted, the spiritual and the natural. Whatever may be their relative state of knowledge or ignorance, of wealth or poverty, in the sense of the Bible of truth, and in the judgment of the God of truth, the one is wise and the other a fool.
2. Secondly, there is a contrast implied: The wise mans eyes are in his head, but the fool walketh in darkness. And why is his path in darkness? Because, unlike the wise man, his eyes are not in his head; if they had been there, he would have walked in light, surely, safely. But they are in his heart, and so he walks foolishly, erringly, darkly. The eye in the head–the wise mans eye, sees under the direction of reason, and faith, and of right understanding. The eye in the heart–the fools eye, sees under the direction of the affections, the disposition and the feelings. And so, while the one man walks in light, the other man walks in darkness.
II. But now let me more pointedly and practically set out the meaning of this verse. Let us take by itself each part of this proverb and consider it.
1. First, then, it is implied that the fools eyes are in his heart. He sees all things through the medium of his own wishes and inclinations; his reason and conscience do not control, but they are possessed by his inclinations.
(1) Hence I believe, because the eye of many is in the heart, the scepticism which obtains in our day, especially the scepticism which obtains in the minds of young men. No man, I believe, ever became an infidel against his will. Inclination, not evidence, has been deficient to the man. The evil heart of unbelief is at the root of scepticism.
(2) Hence I believe the prejudice with which many professed Christians turn away from the doctrines of evangelical religion. They do not question their reality, but they just dislike their practical consequences.
(3) A fools eyes are in his heart, because his bondage is to things present and temporal, and he is indifferent to thinks unseen and eternal. The Bible, though not a fable, is as another book to him, and nothing more. Truth, if not a fiction, is not a fact. Earth is a loved present, possessed; heaven is a forgotten, distant future.
2. But the wise mans eyes are in his head. The light of a holy knowledge shines upon them, and in this light the eye of reason and of faith, the eye, not of blind inclination, but of Christian consciousness and confidence, sees light.
(1) Hence a Christian man feels the right and the responsibility of private judgment on the truth and the service of God. The authority of Christ is supreme authority unto him. He will allow no interference with it; he will allow no usurper to take its place.
(2) Hence the Christian man prays for the light of Divine teaching, The possession of truth has taught him the possibility and the peril of error. He would be found never trusting in man, but he would always pray–That which I know not, Lord, teach Thou me!
(3) Hence the impression which he receives of the things around him and before him. The rule of duty, read by the eyes in his head, is just this–his Fathers will. The measure of goodness, admired by the eye in his head, is just this–his Saviours image.
(4) Lastly, when our eyes are in our head, under the government of an enlightened reason and a Christian faith, they will always be doing a holy and a godly service to our souls–never an injurious one. They will not, then, wander lustfully where they should not even steal a glance; they will be turned away from all vanities. Looking ever, will they be found, unto Jesus; ever, will they be found, setting the Lord before them; single will they ever be, full of light, turning the whole body into light also. (J. Eyre, M. A.)
One event happeneth to them all.—
Wisdom and folly compared
Looking simply at knowledge as such, and looking merely at the brief span of our existence under the sun, we must confess that the wise man is sometimes as powerless as the fool. Two men take their seats in a railway train. The one man is an accomplished scholar, or mathematician, or philosopher. He has disciplined his mental powers, and has amassed large stores of knowledge. He has even acquired, it may be a certain reputation as a man of learning, or as a leader of the thoughts of others. The man who is sitting beside him cares nothing for intellectual culture. Animal enjoyment is his ideal. Give him a good dinner, and you may keep your books to yourself! He could never see any good in racking his brains over hard problems. There sit these two men in the railway carriage, side by side: the one, perhaps, reading the latest book of science; the other, perhaps, glancing through some Sporting Gazette. Suddenly, in a moment, there comes the collision which it was utterly impossible for either of them to foresee: the train is a wreck; and these two lie together, crushed, mangled, and dead! One event, one chance, has happened to them both! Now, shut out the thought of God, and the thought of immortality, and what advantage has the one man over the other? The student has had his intellectual enjoyments: the votary of pleasure has had his enjoyments also. The scholar, along with his enjoyment, has had much fatiguing toil, and, it may be, painful thought; the pleasure-seeker also has doubtless, on his part experienced some of the penalties of self-indulgence. The lover of knowledge has, indeed, had this advantage, that his eyes have been in his head: he has had a wider and clearer vision; and he has lived a higher kind of life. But to what purpose? Where is the permanent advantage? These two men have lived their short span: and here has come Death, as the great leveller! For a few years, perhaps, the scholar may be spoken of; his name may even get into some biographical dictionary but, unless he is one of a very select few, it will be little more than a name, and, in the ages to come, he will be altogether forgotten. To what purpose, then, has he scorned delights, and lived laborious days? Can he be said to have made the best use of human life, if he has simply spent it in acquiring a wisdom which leaves him, in the end, indistinguishable from the fool? Thus, then, we seem to be driven to the same conclusion as Ecclesiastes. Whatever advantages earthly wisdom has, it cannot be regarded as the chief good for man. The amassing of knowledge as the one supreme object of human existence is a vain delusion: it is a feeding on wind: it fails to satisfy the deepest cravings of the human soul. (T. C. Finlayson.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 14. The wise man’s eyes, c.] Well expressed by Choheleth: –
“The wise are circumspect, maturely weigh
The consequence of what they undertake,
Good ends propose, and fittest means apply
To accomplish their designs.”
But the fool walketh in darkness]
“But fools, deprived
Of reason’s guidance, or in darkness grope,
Or, unreflecting like a frantic man,
Who on the brink of some steep precipice
Attempts to run a race with heedless steps,
Rush to their own perdition.”
One event happeneth to them all.]
“Though wide the difference, what has human pride
To boast? Even I myself too plainly saw,
That one event to both alike befalls
To various accidents of life exposed,
Without distinction: nor can wisdom screen
From dangers, disappointments, grief, and pain.”
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Are in his head; in their proper place, and therefore they can see, which they could not do if they were out of his head. He hath the use of his eyes and reason, and sees his way, and orders all his affairs with discretion, and foresees, and so avoids, many dangers and mischiefs. Walketh in darkness; manageth his affairs ignorantly, rashly, and foolishly, whereby he showeth that his eyes are not in his head, but in his heels, or, as it is expressed, Pro 17:24, in the ends of the earth. And; or, yet; notwithstanding this excellency of wisdom above folly for our conduct in the matters of this life, yet at last they both come to one end.
One event happeneth to them all; both are subject to the same calamities, and to death itself, which utterly takes away all difference between them.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
The wise man’s eyes [are] in his head,…. And so are the eyes of every man; but the sense is, he makes use of them, he looks about him, and walks circumspectly; he takes heed to his goings, he foresees the evil, and avoids it; or the danger he is exposed unto, and guards against it. Some understand it, in a more spiritual and evangelical sense, of Christ, who is the head of the body the church, and of every true believer; of everyone that is wise unto salvation, whose eyes are on him alone for righteousness, salvation, and eternal life; or on whom Christ’s eyes are; who is said to have seven eyes, with which he guides, guards, and protects his people;
but the fool walketh in darkness; his eyes are to the ends of the earth; he walks incautiously, without any circumspection or guard; he knows not where he is, nor where he is going, nor where he shall set his foot next, nor at what he may stumble; wherefore a wise man is to be preferred to a fool, as wisdom is to folly. The Midrash interprets the wise man of Abraham, and the fool of Nimrod;
and I myself perceived also that one event happeneth to them all; the wise man and the fool; or, “but I myself perceived” w, c. though it is allowed that a wise man is better than a fool yet this also must be owned, which Solomon’s experience proved, and every man’s does, that the same things befall wise men and fools; they are liable to the same diseases of body, and disasters of life; to poverty and distress, to loss of estate, children, and friends, and to death itself.
w “sed agnovi”, Junius Tremellius, Piscator “sed cognovi”, Rambachius; “but I saw”, Broughton.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(14) Event.Translated hap, or chance (Rth. 2:13; 1Sa. 6:9; 1Sa. 20:26).
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
14. The wise man’s eyes are in his head The Hebrew is more forcible: As for the wise man, his eyes, etc. The “wise man’s eyes” are where they belong, and can be used to some purpose. The reference is to the eyes of the understanding, the inward organ of spiritual knowledge.
Darkness Better, blindness, as contrasted with the seeing eyes just named.
I myself This declaration is of marked emphasis.
One event The “event” here mentioned is evidently death, so often in the writer’s mind.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
The wise man’s eyes are in his head; but the fool walketh in darkness: and I myself perceived also that one event happeneth to them all. (15) Then said I in my heart, As it happeneth to the fool, so it happeneth even to me; and why was I then more wise? Then I said in my heart, that this also is vanity.
It is worth the Reader’s close observation, that Solomon, having in the foregoing verses ascertained the little pretensions that arise from sensual gratifications to happiness; in these verses he sets himself to make a similar estimate of those pleasures which arise from mental enjoyments. And he proves that those, like the former, are alike vain and unsatisfying. Reader! follow the Preacher’s observations with your own. Wherein is happiness to be found? among the book-worms, and the studious of the earth? If Christ be not the object of pursuit; what, less than vanity marks all? The termination to the worldly wise and the fool, is one and the same. All is vanity.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Ecc 2:14 The wise man’s eyes [are] in his head; but the fool walketh in darkness: and I myself perceived also that one event happeneth to them all.
Ver. 14. The wise man’s eyes are in his head.] He judiciously pondereth things past, and prudently ordereth things present, and providently foreseeth to prevent dangers likely to ensue. a The Chinese use to say of themselves, that all other nations of the world see but with one eye, they only with two. b Italians tell us, that, whereas Spaniards seem wise and are fools, Frenchmen seem fools and are wise, Portuguese neither are wise nor so much as seem to be so, they themselves both seem wise, and are so. c This I could sooner believe if from a better mouth than their own. Romani, sicut non acumina, ita non imposturas habent, saith Bellarmine; The Romans (those wittiest of the Italians) are neither very subtle nor very simple.
But the fool walketh in darkness.
One event happeneth to them all.
a P .
b Description of the World, Ec. Of China.
c Heyl., Geog.
d Augustine.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
fool. Hebrew. kesil = fat, inert. Same word as in verses: Ecc 2:15, Ecc 2:16; not the same word as in Ecc 2:19.
and I myself perceived = and I too knew: i.e. as well as they.
event = a happening. Hebrew. mikreh. Said to be a later word, but it occurs in 1Sa 6:9; 1Sa 20:26. Rth 2:3. See note on Ecc 2:8.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
wise: Ecc 8:1, Ecc 10:2, Ecc 10:3, Pro 14:8, Pro 17:24, 1Jo 2:11
one: Ecc 9:1-3, Ecc 9:11, Ecc 9:16, Psa 19:10, Psa 49:10
Reciprocal: Exo 10:21 – darkness Psa 82:5 – walk Ecc 6:8 – what hath the wise Ecc 8:5 – a wise Ecc 8:14 – there be just Ecc 9:2 – alike Joh 11:10 – General
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
2:14 The wise man’s {i} eyes [are] in his head; but the fool walketh in darkness: and I myself perceived also that one {k} event happeneth to them all.
(i) Meaning, in this world.
(k) For both die and are forgotten as in Ecc 2:16 or they both alike have prosperity or adversity.